Republicans Abandon Trump Over Lewd Remarks
Republicans are abandoning Donald Trump in droves after last night's revelation of lewd remarks he made in 2005.
As James Joyner alluded to in his post about the newly released tapes showing Donald Trump making lewd and offensive comments about a married woman back in 2005, many of Trump’s fellow Republicans have come out to condemn his remarks, with several Members of Congress going so far as to withdraw their previous support, Just a perusal of the morning headlines, for example finds reports of such condemnations from RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, Jon Huntsman, Colorado Congressman Mike Coffman, Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz, Utah Senator Mike Lee, Utah Governor Gary Herbert, and Virginia Republican Congresswoman Barbara Comstock. Additionally, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, who is hosting an event in his Congressional District scheduled to included an appearance from Trump alongside Ryan, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has withdrawn the invitation to Trump and made clear that he is not welcome on the stage. Trump’s running mate Mike Pence will appear at the event in his stead. No doubt, there will be further condemnation of Trump from Republicans as the days go on, but the odds that Trump actually steps aside are essentially non-existent and the odds that the GOP takes the highly unusual step of removing Trump from the ticket are even lower:
The RNC rule that authorizes a replacement nominee gives the committee power “to fill any and all vacancies which may occur by reason of death, declination, or otherwise.” The word ‘otherwise’ has been interpreted by some to give the RNC wiggle room to force out a sitting nominee if it chooses. A majority vote of the committee would then choose a new nominee.
Conservative attorney Jim Bopp, a close ally of the RNC, said he doesn’t believe the word “otherwise” authorizes the RNC to drop Trump proactively.
“This sentence only empowers the RNC to fill vacancies, not create them,” he said, suggesting that the removal of a candidate by a court would fit the description. “The power to create a vacancy is a separate and independent power from the power to fill vacancies and that power would have to be conferred on the RNC by a specific rule, which does not exist.
But even if it were an option, any interest in that option faces a daunting reality: People are already voting.
Absentee ballots have been mailed by the hundreds of thousands — if not millions — already, and early voting has begun in a handful of states. Trump’s name is on the ballot in all of them. In addition, there are just 31 days left until Election Day — and it would take time for the RNC to convene a meeting, which would have no guarantee of consensus.
If RNC members did replace Trump, voters would still likely have to cast their ballots for him and let members of the Electoral College reconcile that with the party’s replacement nominee.
In other words, the fantasies that these latest remarks would be the impetus for an effort to knock Trump off of the ticket even at this late date are just that, fantasies. As I’ve said numerous times in the past, the time for Republicans to stop Donald Trump came and went a long time ago when establishment Republicans and mainstream Republicans failed to challenge him effectively as his popularity within the party rose notwithstanding a plethora of remarks about racial and ethnic groups, women, and countless other categories of people became a regular part of his rhetoric. Instead, they essentially waited until it was far too late to mount a series of half-hearted efforts to block Trump from claiming the nomination that were never going to work. Trying to move against Trump at this point, with only a month to go until Election Day, is the kind of cloak-and-dagger political plot best left to the writers on House Of Cards or The West Wing. Additionally, the idea that Trump is simply going to give up at this point is a similarly foolish fantasy. Despite the fact that these revelations are likely to have a serious impact on his campaign, and may well guarantee that he loses the election, Trump clearly isn’t the the kind of person who runs away even in the face of what would be disastrous press coverage for any other candidate. The best example of that can be seen in the apology that Trump issued late last night, which included a hint of how he intends to handle this matter at tomorrow’s debate:
For hours on Friday night, the political world waited for the rarest of expressions from Donald J. Trump — a heartfelt apology.
What viewers got was anything but.
During a 90-second videotaped appearance, Mr. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, offered a strikingly brief articulation of regret for a decade-old audiotape in which he boasted about grabbing women’s genitals and said he could have his way with women because of his fame.
But his real message, which appeared early Saturday, was one of defiance. He described the controversy that upended the Republican Party for most of Friday as a mere “distraction,” and said that his vulgar remarks captured on the tape were nothing compared with the way Bill andHillary Clinton had mistreated women.
If anything, Mr. Trump’s videotaped statement was a truncated version of a speech that he had given countless times. And it did not reflect the several hours of conference calls and strategy meetings among his top aides, who were at first stunned and then nearly paralyzed by the revelation of the tape, which they worried would be fatal to his White House hopes.
“That took 10 hours?” an incredulous Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist, asked on CNN immediately after the statement.
With his brow furrowed and his face a tight scowl, Mr. Trump sat hunched in a chair inside Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, with the glittering nighttime New York City skyline behind him.
“I’ve never said I’m a perfect person, nor pretended to be someone that I’m not,” said Mr. Trump, a 70-year-old real estate developer and former reality television star.
Then came the apologetic part.
“I’ve said and done things I regret, and the words released today on this more-than-a-decade-old video are one of them,” Mr. Trump said of the hot-mike recording of him bragging to Billy Bush, then the host of NBC’s “Access Hollywood,” about his groping and uninvited kissing of women.
“Anyone who knows me knows these words don’t reflect who I am,” Mr. Trump continued.
“I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize,” he said.
(…)
Before the release of the short statement, advisers to Mr. Trump had huddled with him at Trump Tower, along with his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, to discuss how to respond to the crisis. The advisers cautioned against holding a news conference, something that had been discussed, because it could become unwieldy and spin out of his control. They realized they needed to address the issue quickly, at a minimum to try to stop the defections of Republican officials who had begun to shun and loudly denounce him.
But one adviser to Mr. Trump cautioned before the statement that if the candidate mentioned Mrs. Clinton, it would fail.
Mr. Trump did just that.
“Hillary Clinton and her kind have run our country into the ground,” Mr. Trump said. “I’ve said some foolish things, but there’s a big difference between the words and actions of other people. Bill Clinton has actually abused women, and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims.”
Here’s the video:
Here is my statement. pic.twitter.com/WAZiGoQqMQ
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 8, 2016
All of this is occurring, of course, less than forty-eight hours before the second Presidential Debate on Sunday evening. Given the fact that it will likely be dominating the news cycle between now and then, it is inevitable that this issue will come in some way during the debate, and Trump’s comments seem to guarantee that he intends to respond to the tape and what are clearly his own words by diving into the mud to bring up decades-old allegations against Bill Clinton and his relationships with women, as well as Hillary Clinton alleged role in seeking to discredit these women over the years. If that happens, I suspect it will backfire against Trump for two reasons. First of all, attacking Hillary Clinton for what her husband is alleged to have done is likely to only make her a more sympathetic figure in the eyes of voters just as it did in the closing years of the Clinton Administration. Second, given that the format of this debate is a “town hall” debate, it seems incredibly unlikely that a defiant tone from Trump will go over well with the two hundred or so people who will be in the audience and prepared to ask the candidates questions. As it was, it has been clear since the first debate that Trump was in trouble in the polls and in danger of falling into a death spiral. This latest controversy is only going to make that worse, and the wrong response from Trump’s campaign will just make a Trump loss inevitable.
Gabriel Sherman just Tweeted that Jeff Sessions is now pushing Trump to drop out.
And Mike Pence is distraught, according to multiple sources.
I don’t see Republicans abandoning Trump in droves.
A number of Republican politicians who are Mormons and some who are in tough races are.
The rest are simply distancing themselves.
Wake me up when Priebus or Ryan actually abandon Trump.
Mr. Trump said that John McCain was no hero, that Rafael Cruz had links to the murder of JFK, and that Mr. Rubio was “little.” To me all this was quite compatible with the image he presented on television for the last twenty years. Did not any of the Republican leadership own a television during those years; well, of course, they had. This is the man they wanted at the top of the ticket. This is what they calculated would appeal to a large segment of the voting public. This is what they think of America. This was no kidnapping of the party. This is where they placed their bets.
@CSK:
Sure they’re distraught. It’s very distressing getting caught. And that is what’s happened here, no rational human being had any doubt that Trump was a pig of a human being, a racist, misogynist, mentally unhinged piece of crap. No, those are all features, not bugs.
But he got caught on tape. That’s all Republicans care about – not that he’s likely a serial sexual assaulter – but that there’s a tape of him being a lout.
Ted Cruz must be so happy to have been pictured working the phone banks for Trump last week. Clearly he gambled wrong again.
Rod Dreher over at TAC has a righteous rant about how this definitely shows Trump is unfit for office.
His commentators, on the other hand….
It’s amazing the number of times the excuse “oh, this is how men talk when women aren’t around, it means nothing, and besides Hillary is ten zillion times worse” gets trotted out.
What a lot of us are trying to point out is that no, this isn’t how “men talk when women aren’t around” (and if your male friends do and you think this is acceptable behavior, as a female I don’t want to be anywhere near you.) This is describing sexual assault.
And yeah, I had it happen to me. It’s not pretty, it’s not funny, and it’s a crime.
@michael reynolds:
What’s the common refrain among his supporters? Oh, yes. “Trump thinks like me!” or “He’s just like me.” Amazing that so many would want to identify with a buffoon/charlatan/pig.
He’s the dream candidate of a certain type of male: The rich guy who (he claims) beds all the beautiful broads and then tosses them aside like used Kleenex.
As to Republicans abandoning Trump, not quite: https://thinkprogress.org/these-republicans-say-theyre-outraged-at-trump-s-comments-on-women-but-still-support-his-candidacy-72dc30d7e4ad#.ol2ghhija
Kelly Ayotte just announced she’s not voting for Trump. She says she’s not going to vote for Hillary either, but rather will write in for Pence.
In the privacy of the voting booth, I’m not sure that will remain true.
According to the article Doug quotes above, Ivanka and her husband were two of the advisers called in to help Trump extinguish this latest dumpster fire.
I’m sitting here trying to imagine myself in that situation: Helping my father rationalize the fact that he thinks grabbing unwilling women by their pussies is really just a cute, harmless eccentricity of his.
Jee–zus.
Trump won’t drop out, he’s too egotistical. And they can’t depose him without shattering the party. No, they’re stuck riding the Trump Train right off the cliff and into the volcano. If I were running the RNC, I would just abandon him. Tell the “billionaire” he can fund his own disaster. Throw everything into saving the House and Senate, running against the inevitable Clinton presidency. Just pretend it’s Clinton’s first midterm election.
um, they abandoned him long ago- trump is essentially a 3rd party candidate. the powerful showed their cards when he rocked the boat, and exposed our 1 party system for what it is. when i have democrats suddenly quoting the bush family about voting for hillary……well, that’s just something there.
for measure;
trump is the choice of the republican party voters, not the powerful elite who didn’t want him.
hillary is what was forced on democrats by rigging the vote in her favor at the expense of bernie. not like he was going to win but the sheer corruption of the primaries would be considered criminal if it happened in a “non-criminal” party.
@James Pearce:
I tend to believe Ayotte won’t vote for Trump. She hates his guts–and who can blame her? Additionally, she’s loathed by the Trumpkins because they see her as a sell-out to the Democrats.
@CSK:
@James Pearce:
Ayotte called him a role model.
She owns this, along with all the other spineless Republicans who signed onto this dumpster fire.
I just read the WaPo updates on this. All I can think is, “The GOP is shocked – shocked! – to discover that Donald Trump objectifies and harasses women!”
(Your winnings, sir.)
In related news, I was chatting with my neighbor across the street. He’s a Republican councilmember of the type that has lived in this small city for decades along with his parents and his grandparents before them. He’s never not voted Republican. He has a number of yard signs in his yard. I noticed when they went up there was no Trump sign among them. I learned last night that that was not an oversight. He’s voting for Johnson. Yesterday this lifelong Cincinnati Republican said he was ashamed of Trump. (Not of the GOP, of course, but that’s another story.) I can only imagine that he is feeling a little vindicated today about his decision.
Clesrly Trump is going to go after WJC’s infidelities on Sunday night.
It’ll be fascinating to see how Clinton responds. She’s had a lot of time to prepare for it.
@C. Clavin:
Oh, blech. Thanks, though, for pointing that out about Ayotte. A role model for whom/ Sex offenders?
@CSK: Which is why Trump is a dream candidate for the alt-right. He acts in just the way they think they should be entitled to. They deserve to bang supermodels, and because they’re “alpha males” they should be able to cheat on their girlfriends, walk away from child support payments, and dump their wives when they feel like it.
Notice how there are no older women around Trump? At all? In the Trump universe, women just are supposed to disappear after they reach 45 or so. The only reason women exist for Trump is to be beautiful, demure, and sexually available.
As a 56-year old female, I don’t want to have a president who pretends I don’t exist.
@Blue Galangal:
Sure, they’re ashamed, just like Dr. Frankenstein was ashamed when his monster got the villagers running for their pitchforks and torches. “Vat? You are blamink me for my monster?”
Trump is 100% the pure, distilled essence of the Republican voter. That’s why he beat Cruz and Rubio and Jeb! This is the exact man to represent Republicans.
@michael reynolds: To add to this. They are also “upset” that he was caught saying this about women, who are the biggest voting block in the country. Trump has said just as heinous things about Muslims and Hispanics, but the GOP were willing to live with that since they don’t need/want their votes.
This is a morally bankrupt party and every single Republican who is up for reelection this year should be voted out. There has to be massive repercussions for the GOP’s irresponsibility when it comes to nominating and later backing this clown.
@grumpy realist:
Apparently his preferred age is 25, as he noted when he confessed to having the hots for Ivanka’s friend Paris Hilton.
This is what confounds me about Trump’s older women supporters, the ones who rush to defend every swinish word and deed of his. Do they not realize that he thinks they’re garbage?
@grumpy realist:
I try not to be a hypocrite, so up front I will confess that from about age 16 to my early 20’s my main mission in life was sleeping with as many women as I could. That would have been circa 1970 to say 1980. During that time I am sure I said things I’d rather not explain to my daughter now. And yet, not this kind of thing.
It’s not the leering that is the issue, men leer. It’s the deep down contempt for women, the implied violence. Even as a sexually ambitious young man I always genuinely liked women. I can’t tell you how many times a hoped-for seduction went nowhere because we ended up talking philosophy or personal life or about books.
I’ve said before that I don’t get hating women. I get racism, that’s evolution warning us to beware of the ‘other.’ It’s idiotic, but there is at least some slight rationale for it. But hating women? Women are not ‘other,’ they are ‘us.’ There is no ‘us’ without women. What is the evolutionary excuse for despising the half of the human race that reproduces?
sure he is. He just went on national tv and lied multiple times, claiming that The Media was misrepresenting poor donald trump’s words. Then like 2 days later Donald’s clear words ring out.
@grumpy realist: “As a 56-year old female, I don’t want to have a president who pretends I don’t exist.”
We don’t hear enough from women on this testosterone-saturated site, what’s your take on the claim that “well, bill clinton is a rapist, so there?
(Although I’m sure a few of the ambiguously-named commenters here are women who are hiding that fact to avoid all the toxic bullshit men direct at them.)
@dxq:
There may be more women posting here than you realize.
you are essentially a third-rate intellect, but nobody believes that desperate bullshit, sweetie.
@CSK: indeed, I expect so. I was very sad when i realized how many women hide that fact because men are such assholes.
@CSK: They’re so used to being treated like garbage by the men in their lives that they don’t think they deserve anything better.
They’ll find excuses, over and over and over.
“Trump may be the face of your rapist, but Mike Pence is every judge who made sure he got away with it.” -seen on the internet
@dxq: It seems to me that the whole “Bill is a rapist” accusation was raised back when Bill Clinton was running for office and the American people didn’t believe it then. And considering that those accusations came from the same people that insisted Hillary had killed Vince Foster I think a lot of us thought “well, if that’s what they’re peddling, we know how trustworthy they are.”
I was in Japan during the entire Clinton administration and had much fun watching the international reaction to the whole scandal:
The French: “So the President of the United States has a mistress? Et alors?”
The Brazilians: “The man has only one mistress? What’s wrong with him?”
The Japanese: “But what will this do to the economy?”
@grumpy realist: I take your point, but in fact, Kellyanne Conway, his campaign manager, will turn 50 on January 20, 2017 (inauguration day). I don’t consider that old but then I am ancient.
@michael reynolds: A lot of men never get over their terror of Mommy, is the only explanation I can come up with….so for the rest of their lives they have to make sure they keep women, ALL women, under control.
And they’re terrified of smart women. (Most of my female friends with doctorates/law degrees LOVE this. It makes their mentioning of their degrees instant jerk repellant.)
@michael reynolds:
I’m not convinced that he literally hates women as much as he objectifies and considers them to be mere tools for his own gratification.
Perhaps that’s something that Donald has in common with ISIS.
@CSK:
I do too. I don’t think, however, that she will write-in Pence. I think she’s actually “with her,” although I understand why she won’t publicly state that.
@C. Clavin:
To a certain extent, sure, but part of Ayotte’s shtick is that she owns nothing.
@CSK:
Few things would make me happier than this turning into such a debacle for the Trump name that his spit weasel son in law is forced to find a real job.
Josh Marshall has a great piece up at TPM that closes with this:
@dmichael: Wasn’t KellyAnne sort of imposed on Donald Trump by his children?
You do note that she’s one of those leggy blondes who never appears in public without showing her legs and tons of makeup all over her? I wonder if Trump would have accepted her if she hadn’t fallen into his “gorgeous blonde” mold.
When Trump allows older women who look like Golda Meir around him, I’ll change my mind.
@dxq: ““Trump may be the face of your rapist, but Mike Pence is every judge who made sure he got away with it.” -seen on the internet”
Well, sure, Pence believes it’s wrong to say bad things about women but perfectly fine to throw them in jail for 20 years for having a miscarriage.
The main reason that some of the GOP are vocalizing condemnation for Trumps women tape, is that Trump let the cat out of the bag. The GOP has for years pushed legislation that clearly demonstrates to all that to them women are worth less then a man. The GOP now condemns Trump with words but notice very few have pulled their support for Trump. The reason they do not is a simple one in their hearts the GOP agree with what Trump said in the video. What they are doing is desperately trying to keep votes for the GOP, in other words they are lying.
If I was a Republican donor or politician, I’d fire every single one of my campaign managers and opposition researchers. They obviously can’t do their jobs, but by god they can suck money and blow it up their noses.
I mean, how was this not newsworthy 15 months ago?
I think the answer is that the media wanted Trump, so they colluded with each other and got Trump. Trump has given everyone ratings, and they thank him for that.
And now they’re pulling the plug, for good this time.
@grumpy realist: Thanks. I took a look at Dreher. I hadn’t realized Billy Bush was one of The Bushes. A nephew of HW. I looked at Wiki to confirm. They have a Billy Bush page which already has:
Commenting on the controversy, The Economist noted: “Who would have thought that Mr Bush, a presenter of NBC’s Today news show, could end up playing a more influential role in this election than his cousin Jeb, whom many Republicans once expected to win it?”[
@grumpy realist:
I can imagine the tactics Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric had to use to get Trump to accept a campaign manager over the official dumping age (45):
“Come on, Dad, you’ll like her. She’s fine. Great legs. Nice ass. Good boobs; not fake. Long blonde hair, just like Ivanka’s. Maybe not a ten, but definitely an eight. Maybe nine with the right lighting and make-up. Plus she thinks you’re the sexiest man on the planet. She says so herself: ‘Oh, that Mr. Trump. He’s such a total chick magnet.’ So whaddya say, Dad? Is it a go with Kellyanne?”
@Lit3Bolt:
I doubt that any of this would have made enough of those who voted for Trump in the primaries pick someone else. They are still supporting him now.
#pussygate
Basically a bunch of thin skinned people who weren’t going to vote for him before are really not going to vote for him now. And republicans who endorsed him will retract their endorsement- but they’re still going to vote for him.
Predict Wise has Trump’s probability of winning at 13%. Even Arizona has 55% chance of voting for Clinton. With 4ish weeks to go Trump needs a miracle.
I guess that after all the speculation this is the October Surprise…except of course that it’s a “surprise” in about the same sense as that the emperor is naked as soon as the kid points it out.
Oh please…for all this talk of rocking the boat, Trump is part of the corrupt system he trashes, he sticks out simply because he is boorish a$$hole…
The lies and fantasy of sore losers, Hillary wasn’t forced on anyone, she got more votes than Sanders, period…
All of your whiny bitching doesn’t change the fact that Republicans nominated a hideous creep and are now paying the price for that…
@An Interested Party: My friend, you have not put the clothespin on your nose and delved into the feverish swamps of the comments at Lucianne or Breitbart. It is perfectly clear to our odiferous ‘bill’ (the penis-like instrument that leads a marlin through the water, ya know) that the GOPe (that is the ‘establishment’) is rejecting Mr Trump. But RealAmericans ™ like our phallic-symbol-namesake are clear thinking and courageous and will stay the course even if the rigged election fools the rest of us into thinking that Sec’ty Clinton is our Pres. It only they who know better. It is only they who protect our borders and our money and our precious bodily fluids.
You have much to learn, grasshopper. Follow Pepe. He knows.
No thanks…I’d rather not subject my nose to that kind of abuse nor my eyes to that rank stupidity found in the fever swamps you mentioned…damn, some people are idiots…
she said what?
“Some groups of people are almost always highly successful given only half of a chance (Jews*, Hindus/Sikhs and Chinese people, for example), while others (Muslims, blacks** and Roma***, for instance) fare badly almost irrespective of circumstances. The biggest group of humanity can be found somewhere between these two extremes – the perennial overachievers and the professional never-do-wells.”
wonder if it’ll get any press? or are they all trying to minimize it?
This is where they draw the line, of all the crazy things he`s said and done. I say BS
@bill: As tech person I cannot help but laugh at the “source” of that email. The only connection to Clinton is the claim that the email was from her campaign chair’s account.